Shot with DJI Air

DJI NEO2

I used to think drone footage was some marketing fluff

When a client asked about aerial shots for a property video, I'd kind of roll my eyes and i t felt like one of those things everyone includes because everyone else includes it

I mean, it's a warehouse. Or a distribution center. Or some industrial building next to a highway

How much difference can a few drone shots really make?

Turns out... a lot more than I expected

Over the last year, we started including more aerial footage in our listing videos. One company helped us put together some of the shoots, and the original goal wasn't even to make the videos look fancy. We mostly wanted to give buyers a better view of the property and the surrounding area

Surprisingly me was how much longer people actually stayed engaged with the videos

Properties that normally wouldn't get much attention suddenly felt more interesting to watch. Not because the buildings themselves changed, but because the footage gave viewers a better sense of the bigger picture

You can see where the property sits relative to major roads, nearby businesses, access points, parking areas, and surrounding development. Things that are genuinely useful if you're evaluating a location

One industrial property outside Phoenix looked completely ordinary from the ground. Then we filmed it at sunset and suddenly it looked like the establishing shot from a Netflix series

It sounds ridiculous, but it made me realize something

Most property photos show some details

Drone footage shows context and lifestyle that you could possibly live there and this is what buyers care about

I'm still not a fan of the super dramatic real estate videos with movie trailer music and endless slow-motion shots. Some listings definitely go overboard

But I've officially changed my mind on drone footage

What I thought was mostly a gimmick turned out to be one of the more useful tools for helping people understand a property before they ever visit it

DJI LITO X1

Aradale lunatic Asylum, Victoria, Australia. Open mid 1800s to 1996

Simple patterns from chasing tulips this year in the Netherlands.

Scottish west coast taken with DJI Mini 3 Pro with a little of an edit post.

Mini5pro ND1000, ISO 100, 2 sec.